Communities - easy to avoid, extremely important to access

Communities – easy to avoid, extremely important to access

The constant increase in the use of technology has led to a change in how we interact with each other and participate in communities. Most of us spend more time surfing screens and texting than interacting with people in real life! What is it about communities that is so important, and why is it so important to hold onto them?

That’s the topic of what futurist Liselotte Lyngsø, philosopher Nicolai Krejberg Knudsen, and leader of YOGA Huset, Maj Ingemann Molden discusses in an article from FORA Magazine.

How to solve the feedback crisis

There is a big difference between being in the same room and actually being present. Even though we find ourselves surrounded by real people, we constantly get lured to other places by our screens.

We can achieve great happiness when we put away our phones, look each other in the eyes, and talk. But that requires a lot from us! That is why we do not prioritize physical communities to the same extent as we have before. Additionally, it means that we generally receive less feedback from each other. Something that futurist Liselotte Lyngsø experiences as a huge paradox.

“We are in the middle of a feedback crisis. Even though we search on Google and get a lot of information, we only end up with the knowledge that we look for. We don’t know what we should search for. We can only get that if we listen to what real people tell us – and they’ve gone silent.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

When we interact with other people, we automatically receive feedback, which helps us develop as human beings. Through communities, we learn that there are many ways to see and do things. But communities are also difficult to engage in. They require trust and are often conflict-filled. Therefore, for some, it will be the easiest solution to avoid them altogether. Especially now that we have so much technology that can tell us exactly what we want to hear.

According to Liselotte Lyngsø, this is a shame:

“We need to make huge decisions about climate, biodiversity, and new technologies. And even though we have never had so many opportunities to do something about the world’s condition as we do now, it requires that we decide what we want and what we don’t. That’s where we need the community so we can debate and discuss with each other.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

That includes everyone!

Evening schools create a space where we can train our democratic conversation muscles together. But who are the participants in those spaces? Who are the primary target groups of evening schools? Many evening schools experience challenges in attracting new and younger target groups, and even though the group of older people in the population is growing larger, evening schools need to step up.

We need to involve as many different groups and people as possible if we are to find the best solutions in the future.

“There is a huge potential in thinking more diversity and inclusion into evening schools. Diverse communities with different types of people in the same space doing the same activity are the most innovative.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

Read the entire article and learn what philosopher Nicolai Krejberg Knudsen and leader of YOGA Huset, Maj Ingemann Molden have to say about the communities of the future.

Danish article